One of the game’s top referees Ashley Klein will return to the Grand Final arena when he officiates this Sunday night’s Premiership decider between Penrith and Melbourne at Accor Stadium.
Klein, who will referee his third NRL Grand Final, was awarded the coveted gig on Tuesday by NRL Executive General Manager – Elite Competitions Graham Annesley and General Manager Elite Officiating Jarrod Maxwell.
“Like players, referees work hard all year with the aim of appearing on Grand Final Day,” Annesley said.
“On behalf of the NRL, I congratulate all of the Match Officials appointed and wish them all the best for Sunday.”
Maxwell said Klein is highly experienced, having successfully refereed the entire State of Origin series earlier this year.
“Ashley has been excellent in the Finals Series and comes with enormous experience in big games. He refereed in all three State of Origins this year and has shown the required consistency and aptitude throughout 2024,” he said.
“Only very recently, Ashley celebrated his 400th game as an NRL referee. He has also refereed in 28 Finals matches and 17 State of Origins. That experience will be invaluable in a Premiership decider.”
Joining Klein on the field will be touch judges David Munro and Chris Sutton, while Grant Atkins will be the Bunker Review Official.
Klein said he was looking forward to returning to the middle on the game’s biggest day.
“This one means a lot,” he said.
“Obviously there was the disappointment of last year, but that also gave me the motivation to go into this year and perform and make it back and I’m pretty excited to be going out there on Sunday to officiate what will hopefully be a fantastic game with the top two teams in the competition.”
Returning to the NRL Bunker on Grand Final Day is Grant Atkins, a former teacher at Penola Catholic College in Emu Plains. The local father said being behind the wheel of the Bunker is a different type of beast.
“It’s a different atmosphere altogether, it’s a different type of officiating effectively,” he said.
“There’s obviously the pressure of expectation of perfection out of the Bunker compared to on field where you get a little more latitude.”
Like most seasons, officiating has been under extreme scrutiny this year with a number of questionable decisions getting under the skin of fans, players and coaches.
Just last weekend, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary blasted the Bunker in his post-match press conference over a controversial decision to deny Sunia Turuva a try against the Sharks.
Klein said the key to dealing with the pressure of officiating was to block out the external noise.
“I don’t read any media or take any interest in any of that,” he said.
“It’s a matter of working with my team and our NRL coaches and managers to work out what we want to do as a team to officiate well. All that external stuff, I can’t control that, so I don’t listen to it.”
Nathan Taylor
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender's Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.